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I should probably note that the x-ray I had showed nothing other than scarring on one of my lungs. I was unaware of that, but it's from something in the past, not whatever problem I'm having now. I had hesitated to go to ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
foreignlegion to get looked at first because I can't pay what his bodywork/therapy time is really worth, but instead I spent nearly fifty dollars on an x-ray that didn't actually tell me anything useful. Then I happened to see him today and, when I explained the symptoms I was having including shortness of breath, he immediately explained why the particular muscle group affected would cause shortness of breath. Which knowledge would have kept me from spending $50 at the radiology center. Hopefully I'll remember that next time.
---
Anyway. I'm back in Kenosha after a weekend in Kenosha, Chicago, Evanston, and Gary, Indiana. Saturday was spent over atserinthia and todd_riverden's place for about the whole day. We watched the second half of Revenge of the Sith and most of the rest of Clone Wars that I hadn't seen yet. I continue to be unable to suspend my disbelief at parts of Clone Wars, but in general it's a pretty good series and I'm enjoying watching with with Serin. The movie was better than I expected too, after the first and second of the prequel trilogy. I wish Anakin's corruption could have been drawn out further and made more believable, but I guess there's only so much room in a movie. I think I'd enjoy a novelized version that dug in depth both into that, and into galactic politics and why the senate was so quick to embrace a self-proclaimed emperor. It would also have been nice if Padme's role had been as more than just a baby container.
That evening, I packed up my stuff and drove down todanaeris' place in Evanston. I was meeting the photo folks there the next morning.
---
I managed to get out of bed on Sunday morning despite being pretty tired and short of sleep. I metposicat and Erik who'd come down from Grayslake to pick me up on the way through. I was momentarily worried because I'd forgotten my tripod, but it turned out I happened to have left one in the car in case I needed it. As I think Erik commented, I must be a photo-geek. Unfortunately, we were late getting to Gary. Someone in a car next to us on I-94 on the way through Chicago was kind enough to point out a damned-close-to-flat tire on our van, so we stopped to get it looked at. We spent the hour-and-a-half while a new tire was put on the van wandering around Microcenter, Tiger Direct, an Target, all of which were an easy walk down the street from the car place. I'm glad we took care of it there, and didn't have to deal with it on some random side street in Gary.
Once we arrived, it was cold. Really, really cold. I found that I couldn't really carry my flashlight or tripod for very long because the aluminum bodies sapped the heat out of my fingers. I shot very few photos because I really didn't want to take my hands out of my pockets, even in gloves, long enough to manipulate the controls or compose shots. Erik, though, got a number of good pictures, as I think did Posi, though I haven't seen his yet.
Since Erik had never been to Gary before, I showed him what I think of as the two most visually striking abandonments: City Methodist Church and the Palace Theatre. I look forward to more trips with him. I saw things that were different from last time and thinks that I'd never noticed before, as I always do. There are things I want to photograph, but not during the coldest weekend of the year and without adequate equipment. I was very glad for the thermal leggings I'd picked up a few days before, but I would have liked a full-head covering like a balaclava, and a pair of thin thermal gloves to go under my thicker ones with the finger-covers that flipped back. I need warmer shoes too; uninsulated leather Earth Shoes were not intended for such conditions.
We got back to Danae's place a little after dark. She'd been a super-awesome girlfriend and picked up some frozen DiGiorno pizza for us to eat as we sat and looked at photos and talked about our trip. Unfortunately, I didn't have a card reader for the card format Posi's camera used, but I put mine and Erik's onto a monitor to peruse. Finally they left to head home and I collapsed into bed. Originally, I sat next to Danae to snuggle and watch Sherlock while she did schoolwork, but I soon realized that I was exhausted. I feel asleep a little before ten I think, and didn't wake up until about 10 the next morning. I think I'd had too many days of getting not quite enough sleep.
---
Normally I work at the archives on Monday. Monday being a federal holiday, I got to stay out of town for a couple extra days. I thought I'd head over tolisagems' place and let Danae do school stuff, then drive home from there on Tuesday. But it turned out that Lisa's mother was staying until Tuesday morning, so there wasn't really sleeping space. But I did go over and meet her mother for the first time. I liked her, and can clearly see where Lisa's views on politics come from. *grins* She was kind enough to take the both of us out to the Field Museum so she could see some exhibits there. I hope I thanked her enough. They're expensive enough that it's been years since I've been to a museum, and I really enjoyed going. She brought a really tasty ham for dinner for us all too.
That evening, after dinner and the first two episodes of Sherlock (Lisa's mother had never seen the show), I drove back to Danae's place where I spent the night. Amusingly, she and I watched the last episode of Sherlock, which I hadn't seen. I do really enjoy the show, though I feel like the first episode was the best and they seem to go downhill from there.
After one more night in Evanston, I got up on Tuesday morning to drive back to Kenosha. On the way I stopped at a thrift store in Waukegan that I've had good luck at and found not only a couple pairs of jeans (including a nice pair of gray Levi's that I think were unworn), but a great big mechanical scale in great shape, and a portable Honeywell HEPA air-filter. I've been looking for a good mechanical scale, and the air filter should help when I have guests who have allergy sensitivities, or just when I've stirred up dust in moving and cleaning things.
I have to admit, I'm getting a little anxious about the fact that I'm not in the payment system at school yet for my archives job, so I keep seeing money leaving my account and none coming back in. But the archivist told me I should keep track of all my hours, and once they finally get me set up, I should just log 40 hour weeks until I'm caught up. So I'll have one or two large paychecks coming. Hopefully in the near future....
I've been remiss on my picture editing duties. I may just accept that I didn't get much done in the last several days and start up fresh tomorrow. But I have accomplished a literal and metaphorical laundry list of things here today. I did three loads of laundry. I moved a bookshelf upstairs that our newest housemate gave us (he didn't want it after moving in) and collected board games from around the first floor to put on it. I caught up on my bank account. I scrubbed my rug where a cat had decorated it with stomach contents while I was gone. I sorted out my pants drawer and culled a few pairs of 38-waist jeans for donation. (I'm down to 36 now, and can button 34s, though they're still a bit tight. Which is odd, because it doesn't seem to me like my stomach is that much smaller.) I caught up on Flickr and Facebook correspondence, as well as an email from the professor I'm doing fieldwork for. I'm being all productive! It's good to be home and be able to take care of things and not feel like I have outstanding tasks worrying the edges of my consciousness.
I think I'll get ready for bed and do a little Spanish practice before sleeping.
foreignlegion to get looked at first because I can't pay what his bodywork/therapy time is really worth, but instead I spent nearly fifty dollars on an x-ray that didn't actually tell me anything useful. Then I happened to see him today and, when I explained the symptoms I was having including shortness of breath, he immediately explained why the particular muscle group affected would cause shortness of breath. Which knowledge would have kept me from spending $50 at the radiology center. Hopefully I'll remember that next time.---
Anyway. I'm back in Kenosha after a weekend in Kenosha, Chicago, Evanston, and Gary, Indiana. Saturday was spent over at
serinthia and todd_riverden's place for about the whole day. We watched the second half of Revenge of the Sith and most of the rest of Clone Wars that I hadn't seen yet. I continue to be unable to suspend my disbelief at parts of Clone Wars, but in general it's a pretty good series and I'm enjoying watching with with Serin. The movie was better than I expected too, after the first and second of the prequel trilogy. I wish Anakin's corruption could have been drawn out further and made more believable, but I guess there's only so much room in a movie. I think I'd enjoy a novelized version that dug in depth both into that, and into galactic politics and why the senate was so quick to embrace a self-proclaimed emperor. It would also have been nice if Padme's role had been as more than just a baby container.That evening, I packed up my stuff and drove down to
danaeris' place in Evanston. I was meeting the photo folks there the next morning.---
I managed to get out of bed on Sunday morning despite being pretty tired and short of sleep. I met
posicat and Erik who'd come down from Grayslake to pick me up on the way through. I was momentarily worried because I'd forgotten my tripod, but it turned out I happened to have left one in the car in case I needed it. As I think Erik commented, I must be a photo-geek. Unfortunately, we were late getting to Gary. Someone in a car next to us on I-94 on the way through Chicago was kind enough to point out a damned-close-to-flat tire on our van, so we stopped to get it looked at. We spent the hour-and-a-half while a new tire was put on the van wandering around Microcenter, Tiger Direct, an Target, all of which were an easy walk down the street from the car place. I'm glad we took care of it there, and didn't have to deal with it on some random side street in Gary. Once we arrived, it was cold. Really, really cold. I found that I couldn't really carry my flashlight or tripod for very long because the aluminum bodies sapped the heat out of my fingers. I shot very few photos because I really didn't want to take my hands out of my pockets, even in gloves, long enough to manipulate the controls or compose shots. Erik, though, got a number of good pictures, as I think did Posi, though I haven't seen his yet.
Since Erik had never been to Gary before, I showed him what I think of as the two most visually striking abandonments: City Methodist Church and the Palace Theatre. I look forward to more trips with him. I saw things that were different from last time and thinks that I'd never noticed before, as I always do. There are things I want to photograph, but not during the coldest weekend of the year and without adequate equipment. I was very glad for the thermal leggings I'd picked up a few days before, but I would have liked a full-head covering like a balaclava, and a pair of thin thermal gloves to go under my thicker ones with the finger-covers that flipped back. I need warmer shoes too; uninsulated leather Earth Shoes were not intended for such conditions.
We got back to Danae's place a little after dark. She'd been a super-awesome girlfriend and picked up some frozen DiGiorno pizza for us to eat as we sat and looked at photos and talked about our trip. Unfortunately, I didn't have a card reader for the card format Posi's camera used, but I put mine and Erik's onto a monitor to peruse. Finally they left to head home and I collapsed into bed. Originally, I sat next to Danae to snuggle and watch Sherlock while she did schoolwork, but I soon realized that I was exhausted. I feel asleep a little before ten I think, and didn't wake up until about 10 the next morning. I think I'd had too many days of getting not quite enough sleep.
---
Normally I work at the archives on Monday. Monday being a federal holiday, I got to stay out of town for a couple extra days. I thought I'd head over to
lisagems' place and let Danae do school stuff, then drive home from there on Tuesday. But it turned out that Lisa's mother was staying until Tuesday morning, so there wasn't really sleeping space. But I did go over and meet her mother for the first time. I liked her, and can clearly see where Lisa's views on politics come from. *grins* She was kind enough to take the both of us out to the Field Museum so she could see some exhibits there. I hope I thanked her enough. They're expensive enough that it's been years since I've been to a museum, and I really enjoyed going. She brought a really tasty ham for dinner for us all too. That evening, after dinner and the first two episodes of Sherlock (Lisa's mother had never seen the show), I drove back to Danae's place where I spent the night. Amusingly, she and I watched the last episode of Sherlock, which I hadn't seen. I do really enjoy the show, though I feel like the first episode was the best and they seem to go downhill from there.
After one more night in Evanston, I got up on Tuesday morning to drive back to Kenosha. On the way I stopped at a thrift store in Waukegan that I've had good luck at and found not only a couple pairs of jeans (including a nice pair of gray Levi's that I think were unworn), but a great big mechanical scale in great shape, and a portable Honeywell HEPA air-filter. I've been looking for a good mechanical scale, and the air filter should help when I have guests who have allergy sensitivities, or just when I've stirred up dust in moving and cleaning things.
I have to admit, I'm getting a little anxious about the fact that I'm not in the payment system at school yet for my archives job, so I keep seeing money leaving my account and none coming back in. But the archivist told me I should keep track of all my hours, and once they finally get me set up, I should just log 40 hour weeks until I'm caught up. So I'll have one or two large paychecks coming. Hopefully in the near future....
I've been remiss on my picture editing duties. I may just accept that I didn't get much done in the last several days and start up fresh tomorrow. But I have accomplished a literal and metaphorical laundry list of things here today. I did three loads of laundry. I moved a bookshelf upstairs that our newest housemate gave us (he didn't want it after moving in) and collected board games from around the first floor to put on it. I caught up on my bank account. I scrubbed my rug where a cat had decorated it with stomach contents while I was gone. I sorted out my pants drawer and culled a few pairs of 38-waist jeans for donation. (I'm down to 36 now, and can button 34s, though they're still a bit tight. Which is odd, because it doesn't seem to me like my stomach is that much smaller.) I caught up on Flickr and Facebook correspondence, as well as an email from the professor I'm doing fieldwork for. I'm being all productive! It's good to be home and be able to take care of things and not feel like I have outstanding tasks worrying the edges of my consciousness.
I think I'll get ready for bed and do a little Spanish practice before sleeping.